If you reject the idea that they are somehow 'inevitable " or permanent features of human society...
Then, like us, you've probably thought alot about how to change the world. Simply wishing things would get better is not enough. Working alone you can change some things a little, for a while; working together with others, you can change the Liberation! wants an If you want more information about Liberation! return this coupon or write to us at the address below.
• I want to know more about Liberation!
activities and the international youth camp - here's two first class stamps.
] Please send me a copy of the Fourth International's manifesto Socialism Or Barbarism On The Eve Of The 21st Century Here's f1 in stamps. Namo Addross ... Ago...... Phone Send to Liberation!, PO Box 1109, London N4 THOUSANDS of young workers and students are falling victim to the runaway NHS cash crisis.
Many working in support services like catering, portering, cleaning and laundry have been caught up in the privatisation process, seeking their jobs axed or their pay and conditions hacked back.
As a result those that remain face tin-pot dictatorial managers desperately seeking to meet specified standards by brutally exploiting insufficient numbers of low-paid staff.
But perhaps the worst heartache affects the thousands of student nurses who work three years on rock-bottom pay for a qualification, only to find that the NHS can't ISSN 0308-3217 Published by Idolrare Lid, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. November 1993 offer them a job.
In Romford last autumn, 100 final year nurse students at Oldchurch Hospital were told there would be no vacancies until July 1993.
In central London, unions at the crisis-ridden University College Hospital won a management concession - that qualifying student nurses who were not offered jobs would not be immediately evicted from their NHS accommodation.
The situation for student nurses is worsening all the time as NHS Trusts implement rigorous 'skill mix reviews' designed to cut the numbers of qualified staff they employ, replacing them with cheaper, unqualified health care assistants.
Many of these are young women attracted to the NHS as a caring service, who find themselves stuck in a low-paid, dead-end grade as the elitist new 'Project 2000' scheme widens the gulf between qualified and unqualified nurses.
In some areas the cuts in nurse jobs have led to a reduction in the intake of new students. In Barnet, the near-bankrupt Wellhouse Trust has gone further and closed its College of Nursing to save money.
By failing to recruit, train and retain young workers, the NHS market system is jeopardising the future and quality of health care.
It is more vital than ever that young NHS workers get active in the fightback against the Tory attack.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 52, November 13 1993, Page 11